Following complaints, county will seek new janitorial services

EDWARDSVILLE — The county will seek a new janitorial services contract after a committee considered multiple thefts and complaints at a meeting Wednesday.

Advanced Outsource Solutions, an Alton-based company, has provided janitorial services for the county administration building, courthouse, criminal justice center, annex building, sheriff’s department and the county building in Wood River since November last year. The county paid the company $232,602 for the one-year contract.

But after almost daily complaints and several thefts, including an autographed baseball, the Buildings and Facilities Management Committee recommended the county not renew the company’s contract. The stolen baseball was never recovered. On top of the thefts, the county received almost daily complaints about cleaning duties.

“Unfortunately, they are not meeting our specifications as far as cleaning,” said Kurt Geschwend, building administrator for the county. “They were not always emptying the trash, not always cleaning bathrooms. We got some kind of complaint daily.”

Cell phone chargers were stolen from officers and video recordings captured footage of workers stealing food from staff room refrigerators. Geschwend said the county contacted the company to inform them of these problems, but the issues continued.

The county never contacted the police, instead leaving it to the contractor “to take care of their own people,” Geschwend said.

Last year was the first year the county employed Advanced Outsource Solutions, which opened in January 2015. The company was the lowest bidder when the county sought a new contract in fall 2015. Typically, public entities are obligated to choose the lowest bidder unless there is a reason to disqualify the bid.

In this case, if Advanced Outsource Solutions again submits a bid, and if it is the lowest bidder, the county can disqualify the company based on the complaints, Geschwend said. A “stock-pile” of complaints has been collected digitally over the year.

Bids will go out this month, and the committee will choose a winning bid at next month’s meeting. The matter will then go on for approval by the county board.

A representative with the company did not return multiple requests for comment.

Advanced Outsource Solutions, which also offers specialty packaging services, opened a 40,000-square-foot facility in the Alton Center Business Park in January 2015 after an extensive build-out project.